Listen Up
A raucous collaboration, a melancholy cover version, a breezy end-of-summer single and more new music
Alice Boman feat. Perfume Genius: Feels Like A Dream
Swedish singer-songwriter Alice Boman collaborates with Perfume Genius (aka Mike Hadreas) for “Feels Like A Dream,” a sublimely haunting love song from Boman’s forthcoming album, The Space Between, out 21 October. She says in a statement, “In the past I’ve written a lot of songs about disappointments, heartbreaks and the longing for love. Being in love—I thought it would be so hard to write songs about that. Not wanting to sound too cheesy. But love can be cheesy. And this song is about how it sometimes feels like a dream to be with that someone. Especially when you’ve been wondering if you’d ever find love.” Boman sent Hadreas a few demos, and this was the one he selected for their collaboration. “I think it works beautifully as a duet—us representing and singing from the two sides of a relationship,” Boman says. “I have listened to Perfume Genius for a long time and love his voice and sound and I’m thrilled that he wanted to be a part of this.” The video was directed by Jeanne Lula Chauveau (who has worked with Boman several times over the years) and its lo-fi, vintage vibe creates the perfect atmosphere.
Elijah Wolf: Holding This In
With a propellant alt-folk foundation and honest, articulate lyrics, “Holding This In” marks a strong return for Brooklyn-based recording artist Elijah Wolf. Co-written with Josh Jaeger and produced by Sam Cohen at his Accord, New York studio, the indelible single incorporates both sides of a conversation at the end of a relationship. It debuts with an equally transportive music video by Jonathan Graves.
Bibi Club: Le matin
Today, Montreal-based duo Bibi Club (aka Adèle Trottier-Rivard and Nicolas Basque) share “Le matin,” a whimsical, breezy track from their upcoming debut album called Le soleil et la mer. The pair says of the song, “It conveys the feeling of early mornings spent walking around our neighborhood with our kids, not knowing our destination, but driven by a desire for something quiet and simple. Our friend Mégane, who created the artwork for the album, visited us at the studio on the first day of recording. It made sense to ask her to sing with Adèle, like scouts heading into the dark forest, emboldened by the strength in numbers, holding each other, comforting and cheering up one another.”
Iron & Wine feat. Sima Cunningham and Macie Stewart: That’s How You Know (Lori McKenna Cover)
Iron & Wine (aka singer-songwriter Sam Beam) has collaborated with vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Sima Cunningham and Macie Stewart of Chicago art-rock band Finom (formerly known as Ohmme) for an eerie, enveloping and textured cover of folk singer Lori McKenna’s “That’s How You Know.” The track will appear on a four-song Lori McKenna cover EP from Beam, Cunningham and Stewart, entitled LORI, out September 16. Nebila Oguz conceptualized, directed and animated the equally mesmerizing music video.
Ibrahim Maalouf and Erick the Architect: MONEY
Lebanon-born, France-raised trumpeter, composer and producer Ibrahim Maalouf teams up with Brooklyn-born rapper, singer and record producer Erick the Architect (of Flatbush Zombies) for the raucous “MONEY.” Brimming with musical influences from the Middle East and Africa, elements of ’80s synth-pop, jazz and electronic, it’s a horn-heavy bonanza that’s much more than an ode to cash. Maalouf says, “I presented this track to him and explained my vision for it; it was about having our actions controlled by others in the name of money. I wanted to make a song about that. The idea was to imagine people as pawns, controlled and exploited, like in The Matrix. Erick was immediately on board with the concept.”
Listen Up is published every Sunday and rounds up the new music we found throughout the week. Hear the year so far on our Spotify channel. Hero image courtesy of Bibi Club
